356 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part i 



were clustered hundreds of abandoned nests of cliff swallows, in which 

 the finches roosted. 



S. G. Jewett, W. T. Taylor et al. (1953) comment on a flock of 

 about 1,000 birds which arrived at Republic, Wash., the morning of 

 November 12, 1920. Nervous and uncertain at first, the birds finally- 

 settled about a small, open spring, and then were tame and unsus- 

 picious of an observer not more than 30 feet distant. On the ground 

 the birds maintained a constant musical twitter, but the notes ceased 

 when the birds took fhght, rising to a great height. Again, on Jan- 

 uary 10, 1918, a flock of about 50 birds took shelter from the raw 

 wintry wind in the mud nests of a deserted colony of cliff swaUows, 

 some bu'ds turning around to peer out curiously. 



Voice. — The LeffingweUs (1931) say on this subject: 



While the birds are in flight there is a constant chattering, and on a dull day, 

 when they are flying at a distance their presence can be detected first by the thin, 

 clear notes uttered in rapid succession. The flock note is similar to that of the 

 Evening Grosbeak though not so forceful and we have interpreted it variously 

 as terrip or terrp; also as half whisper as peeap, peeap and cheep, cheep. The 

 alarm note is a short, guttural, monosyllabic cheep, peep, peep. At other times 

 it is very curt, being cha cha. 



Few attempts at song were noted until the first of February and then the first 

 song was somewhat sketchy. A notation on February 4, 1928, states that the 

 birds were trying to sing, for some were giving softly a few connected notes. 

 Most dominant at this time was soft cheek-ah, a soft song like that of the Purple 

 Finch. Again on February 12, one Hepburn sat on a tree and sang a buzzy 

 Purple Finch song. This may be the song of the birds. After this date attempts 

 at song are common, and on February 25 a note states definitely that the males 

 were singing. The song, a long warble, was much like that of the Goldfinch. 



Field marks. — Hepburn's rosy finch can be distinguished from the 

 gray-crowned rosy finch, with which it is often associated in winter, 

 by its head marldngs, which are distinctly visible in the field, even at a 

 considerable distance. Hepburn's has been rightly called the gray- 

 headed rosy finch, for almost its entire head is gray, down to the sides 

 of the head and throat, with only the forehead black, while in the gray- 

 crowned rosy finch only the posterior half of the crown is gray, the 

 frontal half being black. The brown body plumage, with its rosy tints, 

 is common to all the rosy finches, which look much like large brown 

 sparrows. 



Fall and winter. — As cold weather approaches, the rosy finches de- 

 sert the alpine heights, retreat to the lower slopes, and spread out 

 over the lowland plateaus. They become tame and confiding during 

 the winter, adapting themselves to civilization and coming readily to 

 feeding stations and window sills in their search for food. 



Gabrielson and Jewett (1940) write: "The most abundant wintering 

 Rosy Finch in the State is Hepburn's Rosy Finch. It gathers mto 

 huge flocks that swirl along the rocky hillsides of eastern Oregon like 



